Innovative Leadership

Jo Kirchner has devoted the majority of her career to pioneering breakthrough strategies for delivering high-quality early education and care. As CEO of Primrose Schools® since 1999, she has led strategic growth of the company from four locations in Georgia to a national brand recognized as an industry leader and innovator.

Jo joined Primrose in 1990 as Vice President and was instrumental in creating and expanding the franchise model that now includes over 500 independently owned and operated schools coast-to-coast.

Today, Jo continues to shape strategic direction for the rapidly expanding franchise company while also providing leadership on the Primrose Schools Board of Directors and the Primrose Early Learning Council. Outside the company, her national advocacy work includes serving on the board as co-chair for the Early Care & Education Consortium, a trustee for Cognia and the Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board, and she engages in initiatives internationally to advance early education and child care. In 2017, Jo received the International Franchise Associations Bonnie LeVine Award in recognition of her commitment to the mentorship of women.

Jo founded the Primrose Schools Children’s Foundation and launched the Primrose Promise℠ corporate social responsibility program, which helps the Primrose organization fulfill its mission to forge a path that leads to a brighter future for all children.

Steve Clemente joined Primrose as President in May 2016. In his role, he leads internal operations for Primrose School Franchising Company and partners with CEO Jo Kirchner on strategic growth initiatives.

Steve’s entire career has been focused on providing senior leadership and management in multi-unit businesses. Prior to joining the Primrose Schools executive team, Steve served as President of Field & Stream, a subsidiary of Dick’s Sporting Goods. Before that, he spent five years at the Nebraska Book Company, rising from Sr. Vice President in charge of operations to President and CEO.

He began his career as an Executive in Training at Target Stores and enjoyed a 15-year trajectory there, culminating as a Group Vice President in charge of $3.3 billion in operations. He was widely recognized for mentoring high-performance executives, and his team led the company in customer service and financial profitability.

Steve holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from Webster University.

Kristin Goran joined Primrose Schools as Chief Legal Officer in April 2018.  In this role, she leads the legal and franchise administration functions and advises the company on a broad range of legal and strategic issues to help strengthen and grow the brand.  Prior to joining Primrose, she served as Vice President, Legal at Focus Brands (now GoTo Foods), the parent company of seven foodservice franchisors.

In private practice Kristin specialized in intellectual property law, focusing primarily on pharmaceutical and medical device patent issues.  She received her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, and her Juris Doctor from Emory University.

Kristin is passionate about supporting non-profit causes, both inside and outside of Primrose.  She provides legal support to the Primrose Schools Children’s Foundation.  Also, she currently serves on the board of Goodwill Industries International, which supports a network of more than 150 local Goodwill organizations that provide programs for people who face barriers in their employment. She previously served on the board of Camp Kudzu, a nonprofit that provides camp programs to children and teens with Type 1 diabetes throughout Georgia, for six years.

Rob Gray joined Primrose in 2018 and currently serves as the Chief Accounting Officer. He is an experienced CPA with strong leadership attributes, progressive management experience, global business exposure, project management expertise and invaluable Franchising, Fortune 50 and Big 4 audit experience across various industries.

He has a proven ability to deliver high quality results, professionally develop teams and execute within complex and fast-paced business environments.

Rob holds a bachelor’s degree from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, LA. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from Georgia State University.

Josh Greear joined Primrose as CFO in February 2018. In his role, he leads Finance, Analytics, Accounting, and Business Services for Primrose School Franchising Company.

Prior to joining the Primrose Schools executive team, Josh served as Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. where his responsibilities included leading the Off-Premise Business, Strategic Planning, Real Estate, and finding acquisitions and new business ventures.  Before that, he was with The Home Depot/HD Supply where he held various financial leadership roles and graduated from their Internal Audit Leadership Development Program.

Josh holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from Vanderbilt University.

Annette Heng joined Primrose in September 2016 and leads strategic efforts to foster a brand-driven, high-performance environment for Primrose School Franchising Company and the Primrose schools system. She has worked in education for more than 30 years, having previously served as a regional vice president for Aramark Education, among other roles for the company. Heng holds a bachelor’s degree from National Louis University and a master’s degree in education from Erikson Institute and Loyola University, and currently pursuing her Doctorate in Strategic Leadership. She and her School Excellence team are responsible for building trusted relationship while providing on-going support for all Franchise Owners and schools across the system. This support incudes quality assurance, compliance, school training and development, new and mature school performance and communications.

Dr. Amy Jackson is an experienced business leader and educator who has dedicated her career to ensuring children have access to high-quality early learning experiences and care. As chief early learning strategy officer, she will expand strategic partnerships to facilitate thought leadership and advocacy to support efforts that support access to high quality early learning and care for all children.

In this role, Jackson will provide strategic leadership, research and continuous improvement for the brand’s proprietary Balanced Learning® curriculum. She will also expand strategic partnerships for research-based innovation to strengthen the exclusive, time-tested Balanced Learning curriculum, created from the best early education wisdom to help children build the foundation they need for learning and life.

Nick Koros joined Primrose as chief development officer in March 2023. In this role, he leads the overall growth and development strategy for Primrose School Franchising Company to ensure even more children have access to high quality education and care.

Nick has extensive experience helping industry-leading brands strengthen their presence in competitive markets through multi-unit real estate projects and aligning the objectives of franchise owners, real estate partners and other key stakeholders. Trained in working across multiple disciplines to reach common goals, his career is built on producing innovative growth strategies on both a national and global scale.

Koros is well qualified as he holds a Juris Doctor as well as a Master of Business Administration and received his bachelor’s in economics and sociology from UCLA. He has also obtained a master business strategy certification from Cornell and is LEED Design accredited by the US Green Building Council.

Avery Ma is a leader in the Technology space with a background in eCommerce and Software Development in the college retail, apparel, and workwear industries in Nebraska, Chicago, and Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska Lincoln (Go Big Red!) and lives with his family in the greater Atlanta area.

Tim Roush joined Primrose Schools as Chief Marketing Officer in January 2020. In this role, he leads strategic efforts to actively protect and promote Primrose premium brand leadership position and grow brand loyalty and advocacy Primrose School Franchising Company and Primrose schools nationwide.

Tim has spent nearly forty years within the marketing sector, having previously served as Chief Marketing Officer for 1-800 CONTACTS, and also previously held marketing positions with Sara Lee, General Motors, Novartis, and Proctor & Gamble. His extensive background in brand strategy, consumer insight analytics, and integrated marketing development makes him the ideal leader to utilize key marketing strategies to drive accelerated growth for the organization.

Tim has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Literature from Brigham Young University and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from Penn State University. He is passionate about helping provide quality education to all children through the Primrose Schools Children’s Foundation.

Dr. Laura Jana is the proud mother of three, a pediatrician, author, certified child passenger safety technician, and Primrose School Franchise Owner. Dr. Jana is also a nationally recognized parenting expert and health communicator. Having first served as a consultant to Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. Jana went on to co-found The Dr. Spock Company in 1999, and then subsequently founded her own company, Practical Parenting Consulting.

Dr. Jana now serves as a media spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics; is on the advisory board for American Baby magazine and The Walt Disney Internet Group; and serves as an expert consultant for academic organizations, non-profits and major corporations such as P&G, Dorel, Playtex and Reckitt Benckhiser/Lysol.

Dr. Meg Small is an assistant research professor and director for social innovation at Penn State University’s Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center. She is also director of the university’s Health and Human Development Design for Impact Lab. With two decades of experience in the prevention research field, Dr. Small’s work is focused on using research to create programs and inform policies that promote the health and well-being of children and families. She earned a bachelor’s degree in health and human development from Penn State University, a master’s degree in community health at the University of Alabama and a doctorate degree in community and public health from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Kathy Cabe Trundle, Department Head and Professor in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education at North Carolina State University, has more than 30 years of experience in science education, including 10 years of public school teaching. Before joining the faculty at NC State, she was a Professor in Early Childhood Science Education at The Ohio State University, and she previously served as the State Science Consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education. Dr. Trundle has more than 200 scholarly publications, including research articles, book chapters, and books. In addition to her academic and scholarly activities, Dr. Trundle is highly sought after as a national and international expert in early childhood education. She serves as an advisor to the Fred Rogers Company and to Louisiana Public Broadcasting. She has served as a Fulbright Specialist in Indonesia. Additionally, she has been an invited keynote speaker at international conferences and universities in Turkey, China and Indonesia, and she consulted with the Chinese government on a science and technology museum project.

Dr. Douglas Bell is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at Kennesaw State University in the Birth through Kindergarten teacher preparation program. With more than 30 years of experience in early childhood curriculum, early literacy, early social emotional development and working with young dual-language learners, he has held positions as teacher in all age groups birth through second grade. Additionally, he has served as early learning school administrator, curriculum coordinator, and teacher trainer. Dr. Bell has published and presented on local, state, national and international levels.

Dr. Carol Donovan is a Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Alabama. Her research interests include children’s and teachers’ selections and uses of books for science, children’s genre knowledge development, and children’s writing development. She has published her work in various journals, including Reading Research Quarterly, Research in the Teaching of English, The Reading Teacher, Elementary School Journal, and Language Arts. She received a doctoral degree in Multicultural Teacher and Child Education with an emphasis in reading and writing from the University of New Mexico.

Dr. Gloria Julius is a Strategic Consultant advising on research and development of early childhood curriculum and instructional programming. Prior to consulting, Dr. Julius served as Chief Academic Officer for Primrose Schools, overseeing the research, development, evaluation, and continuous improvement of the Primrose Balanced Learning® curriculum. Prior to joining Primrose, Dr. Julius served as the Chief Learning Officer for Calvert Education Services, a 115-year-old home schooling and virtual learning provider. She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with a concentration in music from Elizabethtown College, a master’s degree in education with a concentration in curriculum development from Towson University, and doctoral degree in education policy, planning and administration from the University of Maryland College Park.

Dr. Sandra M. Linder is an Associate Professor at Clemson University. centers her research on improving teacher quality in mathematics through professional development. In addition to her work in curriculum, Dr. Linder has multiple national publications relating to early childhood and elementary mathematics motivation and achievement, pre-service and in-service teacher quality and professional development, cross-curricular and technology integration in mathematics, and teacher beliefs related to mathematics pedagogy.

Dr. Jennifer McDonel is assistant professor of music and director of music education at Radford University. She also is a faculty member and former executive director of the Gordon Institute for Music Learning. Throughout her career, Dr. McDonel’s teaching and research has spanned across all ages, with a specific focus on the impact of early childhood music learning on children’s overall development. Dr. McDonel holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from The Ohio State University, a master’s degree in music education from the Eastman School of Music and doctoral degree in elementary education from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Rebecca Parlakian serves as senior director of programs at ZERO TO THREE where she directs a portfolio of projects related to child development, parenting, early learning, social-emotional skills, and high-quality teaching/caregiving. In her role, she has co-authored five parenting and professional curricula and developed resources for teachers, home visitors, and parents in various media formats. Ms. Parlakian’s written work has appeared in a variety of publications and she has been quoted by media outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post. She holds a master’s degree in infant and toddler special education from the George Washington University where she currently teaches as an adjunct professor in their Graduate School of Education and Human Development.